


Halloween Nostalgia

by plastic_cello



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Halloween references, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 22:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2404631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plastic_cello/pseuds/plastic_cello
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe there would be some problems in the future, but for now everything was perfect. And maybe he wouldn't be so nostalgic for his past Halloweens anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Halloween Nostalgia

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in over a month; somehow this happened.

* * *

Some would say that it was a hazardous environment for a kid to be in, however Tony was of a completely different opinion. He loved the atmosphere; the low-brow conversations, the randy laughter, and the self-indulgent and carefree attitude that his father's guests exhibited. In fact, Howard himself had been more of a pleasure than any other time of the year back then.

Howard might have had a cigar in one hand and a tumbler in the other, but he still dressed up like a nineteen-thirties gangster, a regal version of Dracula, or even a mad scientist. His rigid, cold demeanor was stripped away as he entertained his guests with stories of the War and his relentless chase to locate Captain America somewhere in the Arctic.

Tony listened to every story, having forgone trick-or-treating so he could be at the party instead. There was plenty candy for potential trick-or-treaters beside the door; the task falling onto a maid or butler or whoever was given the unfortunate job of it. So he'd grab a handful and creep amongst the gangly limbs of his father's party guests and listen to every funny and valiant story that spilled out of Howard's mouth.

For one magical, alcohol-fueled night; everything seemed to be all right. Howard's stoic disposition was a distant memory; replaced by an entity that was jovial and present, and didn't mind if Tony was around to bask in the glow of it.

Those parties had been a highlight in Tony's childhood; something he couldn't say about the rest of his adolescence. Halloween, for whatever reason, seemed to be special; better than Christmas or New Year's combined. Because everyone seemed to take on a different identity; as if they felt safer in silly costumes and their dependency on hard liquor.

"Wrong, wrong, all wrong," Tony broke out of his reverie, and made the party planner's grunts pause in mid-action. "I wanted this to look retro chic, not futuristic and trashy!"

"It's not futuristic and trashy, it's classy and elegant." Pepper intervened smoothly. "We've discussed this, Tony. The bones of this house aren't the same as your childhood home."

"With all the money in the world, we cannot recreate my vision?"

"Not in three days, no,"

"Buy some shag carpets; put ugly wood paneling on the walls. Do something that doesn't scream tacky porno; Debbie does Dallas, okay?" He said with a wave of his hand at the burly men that had taken over the living room of his Malibu home.

With one final disapproving stare, he walked away and towards the spiral stairway that led to his workshop. He didn't have anything pressing to deal with, let alone build; but he found some solace with the fact that he could lock everyone out of his domain, including Pepper.

Recently, he had changed the locks and passwords; just in case he was visited by an unlikely guest. It had become a more frequent occurrence of late, and well he didn't see any reason to ask questions or rock the boat. Everyone had their own problems; he didn't feel like he needed to add the burden of anyone else's on his conscious. Especially since the whole damn affair was guilt inducing as it was already.

He descended the stairs, before quickly typing in the passcode to gain access to the workshop. The door slid open seamlessly and the lights flickered on as he walked into the area. Computers whirled on and holograms leapt out of thin air; filled with data and blueprints of inventions that had yet to be realized.

Single-mindedly, Tony moved towards the sleek leather couches on the outer perimeter of the workshop; before collapsing unceremoniously onto one of the cushions. He sunk into it and stared dispassionately at the greasy cogs and nuts and bolts from his hot rod strewn across a work bench, and far more important tech that coincided with the newest incarnation of the Mark suit.

"How hard is it to recreate a childhood memory?" He blurted out.

" _Would that be a rhetorical question, sir?_ "

"Kind of," he crossed his arms. "Well, okay really how hard could it be, JARVIS?"

" _It depends on several factors. Miss Potts had the best answer of yet; it would be hard recreate your childhood home with your current one, based solely on the architecture, sir. However, given enough forewarning; it would be far more possible next year._ "

"This is a one-time thing; like hell I'm doing this again." Tony grumbled and felt a headache come on.

Somehow he'd been convinced by an oddly persuasive Natasha to hold a Halloween party at his home, and he would have been stupid to say no. Since he'd recently become overwhelmed by his childhood memories and how he could somehow capture lightning in a bottle. Unfortunately, he couldn't without extensive architectural work and it really didn't seem worth the effort; regardless of his financial situation.

This was a one-time thing. Sure, he had had holiday parties at his many homes before; but he preferred to go elsewhere to celebrate if he could help it. Because he could never emulate those swanky soirees from his childhood; the electric atmosphere with a vintage glamour rolled up in it.

Slouching further into the couch cushions, Tony spied the sketch he'd drawn for the party planner over a week ago. It was lit up on one of the holographic screens; an assembly of earthy tones and dark woods. The family mansion had been over five-thousand square feet large; ten bedrooms, nine bathrooms with a chef's kitchen, an indoor pool, a billiard's room, and a laboratory on the basement level. It had been built in nineteen forty-nine and had retained much of its architectural integrity from that era.

By the time the seventies came around, the mansion had been decorated to match the current trends. The overall structure stayed the same, but orange and green shag carpets and wood paneling crept slowly into the space. Fond, nostalgic; unfortunately, it also carried some bad memories too.

"It's unlike you to…pout." A smooth, cultured voice drawled beside him all the sudden.

Maybe if it had been a year ago, Tony would have leapt ten feet into the air. But now he hardly flinched; Loki had a habit of popping up when you least expected him. It didn't matter the hour or the day; he would show up as if it was completely natural.

"Yeah, well everyone has their days."

"What ails you, Stark?" Loki was sitting primly on the other end of the couch; long legs crossed at the knee.

Honestly, it wasn't unusual for the two of them to lament on their problems. That was how their partnership bloomed from, before it inevitably turned physical. It was hard to label what they had, though. They weren't in a relationship, but it wasn't a random hook-up either. It was undefinable.

"Do gods even know what Halloween is?" He eyed Loki, who readily met his gaze.

"All Hallows' Eve; yes, I am aware of it. Might I remind you, I've seen many incarnations of humanity."

"Yeah, yeah; you're older than dirt. I get it. Anyway, I'm throwing a Halloween party and it's not going as planned. I had this vision of my childhood, and instead I have a bunch of party planners upstairs making my living room look like a cheap porno set."

"With all your fortune, you cannot make it happen?" Loki asked with an arched and unimpressed eyebrow.

Tony shot him a sarcastic expression in reply, which seemed to get the message across. As much as he wished wealth had anything to do with it, it really didn't. Even if the party planners could capture the décor perfectly, the mood wouldn't be there. The retro feel, the elegant but debauched attitude would be missing. And so would the most important element – Howard.

Despite the contentious relationship they had, Tony still valued (probably far too much to be considered healthy) his relationship with his father. In a lot of ways, he was still a kid vying for his father's approval; which was one thing he bonded so well with when it came to Loki. They both had some innate desire to impress their fathers; although Tony couldn't do that anymore, considering Howard was long since dead.

"This was a stupid idea. But when a deadly Russian spy demands a Halloween party, well you throw a Halloween party. Hopefully she likes the trashy motif, because that's exactly what she's getting." He furrowed his brow, gazing back at the sketch which was almost identical to his memories.

Loki stood from the couch, and moved around the workshop with familiarity. Usually, he cropped up here; almost as if he could sense Tony's presence there. He probably could; god only knew how many weird powers Loki happened to possess.

"Perhaps your servants-"

"Employees, hired hands, _not_ servants,"

"Hired hands will pull off a miraculous happening for you yet."

"Puny humans, remember? We don't have that hocus pocus like you do."

"Unfortunate," Loki clucked his tongue as he paused by the screen that housed the speedily drawn sketch of the family mansion.

Boredom exuded off the god as he gazed at the sketch. Tony didn't expect any differently; most things seemed to easily bore Loki. It was surprising that their secret rendezvous hadn't bored Loki to tears yet. As far as he knew it, it was only a matter of time. Mortals couldn't possibly entertain a god forever.

Tony wasn't torn up by the idea, though. He wasn't deluded enough to believe their partnership would last beyond its initial fascination. And well, neither of them was in love with the other; at least he didn't feel that way.

Love was a hard emotion for him to fully grasp. He had spent much of his formative years being closed off; not to mention watching his parents' marriage was enough to make anyone wary. But he had had flickers of love for partners in the past; Pepper had almost cracked him open completely until they both realized how unhealthy and impractical their relationship truly was.

" _Pardon my intrusion, sir. Miss Potts is requesting your presence; there are still a variety of decisions that need to be made in terms of the party._ " JARVIS conveyed and made Tony sigh in frustration.

Pepper could make all the decisions for him. She'd done it in the past on numerous occasions, but her persistence about this current party was becoming an annoyance. Unfortunately, he knew he couldn't ignore her either; not without her coming downstairs and discovering Loki, who had since moved onto a different point of interest.

"I'll be right there." He pulled himself free of the couch cushions and back onto his feet. "I have to go, Reindeer Games; which means you have to go too. If Pepper finds you here, I'll have an army of SHIELD agents so far up my ass, well it wouldn't even be funny."

"How dull," Loki drawled. "I suppose I could find something to do elsewhere. Perhaps not so harmless either."

"Do it on Cap's watch then. I have a party to plan."

"Very well,"

"Go on now." Tony shooed Loki and received a glare for his troubles. But it ended up being effective anyway; the god was soon enveloped by a gold and green shimmer of light, before he disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

Once he was absolutely certain Loki was gone, Tony headed back upstairs to deal with whatever aspect of the party Pepper thought deserved his utmost attention. It was probably the finger foods or some detail that was equally inane.

Shaking his head, he could only hope the party would be up to Natasha's satisfaction because it certainly wasn't going to live up to his expectations.

* * *

The final results were catastrophic. Or at least to Tony they seemed that way. Pepper had thought the party planner and her crew had done a brilliant job. It certainly was reminiscent of the seventies, but it looked more like a rejected set from Xanadu than his childhood home. Studio 54 looked less gaudy than what had happened to the first floor of his mansion.

After witnessing the disco balls and pseudo-fur rugs, Tony had fled upstairs and dismissed Pepper in a very unprofessional way. He was beyond furious, not only with the party planners he hired but with Pepper too for letting the whole problem manifest into a drug fueled dance club. Because it was exactly the opposite of what he wanted and he spent plenty of money to at least get a semblance of what he demanded in the end.

"For fuck's sake," he muttered around the lip of his tumbler. "I knew this would end in disaster."

His anger had leveled out some, but it was still very much present currently. Several drinks had made it easier to cope with; then again, he was notorious for bottling up most of his emotions until they poured out rather dramatically later on. Most of the time, it didn't end in a screaming fit or the breaking of property; instead it ended up with him doing something reckless in a titanium alloy suit.

God only knew he hadn't been very self-destructive of late. There hadn't been any impending threat, an alien invasion, or someone from his past with a vendetta. So things had been mild, well aside from sleeping with a well-known enemy of humanity's. But Loki hadn't tried to become the Earth's would-be conqueror or cause any mayhem recently either.

"Son of a bitch," he enunciated each word, as if that would somehow make him feel better.

In all honesty, he had known it would be impossible to recreate his father's parties. The seventies were dead and gone just like dear 'ol dad was. You couldn't find the type of people that went to those parties. Politicians, movie stars, models, highly decorated servicemen usually didn't convene for a little blow and finger sandwiches; and you definitely wouldn't see a glamorous Agent Margaret Carter rolling her eyes at Howard's antics either.

" _Mr. Laufeyson is downstairs, sir._ " JARVIS announced much to his chagrin.

"He always decides to show up at the most inconvenient times."

" _Shall I ask him to leave the premises?"_

"For both our safety, let's not do that. I'll see what he wants; maybe to pile on and make this day worse than it already is." He downed the rest of his drink, before he set the glass down and headed for the door.

He had taken refuge in the normally unused study slash library. There were too many invaluable things in there to keep him in check, and he figured reading a book would be a better alternative than some of his initial thoughts were. Midway through a Steinbeck novel, he'd gotten bored and wandered to the rooftop deck and its fully equipped bar; before returning to stare at the dusty spines until his eyes unfocused.

Now he had to deal with a mischievous pain in the ass, who was probably chuckling at the awful state his living room was in. Tony walked slowly along the hallway and around the corner, which he clipped with his shoulder. He scowled at the ache, but otherwise ignored it and continued towards the stairway that spiraled and expanded onto the first floor.

His footfall echoed as he journeyed downward; soft thuds that made his head hurt. He didn't know what Loki was up to, but something told him it wasn't anything harmless. While the god was usually on his least destructive behavior around him, that didn't mean he hadn't broken things out of annoyance or just for good 'ol malicious fun.

As he came to the final step, Tony froze at what was awaiting him. The living room looked completely different from only hours ago. Words honestly couldn't describe what had happened to the gaudy décor, and how utterly transformed it had become. The only way to describe it was simple – it was home.

Warm and dark wood covered the walls, while an obnoxious orange shag carpet covered the floors. Heavy, indestructible pieces of furniture from the forties and fifties were arranged around the room, as were lamps made of yellow and red ceramic.

Sitting amid the newly designed living room was Loki. The god was eyeing his nails as if they were most interesting sight in the universe, although anyone with a set of eyes could tell there was a tension to his body that normally wasn't there; which pointed to one thing – he was waiting for Tony's reaction.

"How the hell…?" Tony stepped onto the floor and felt his feet sink into the plush carpet. "Never mind, magic; you magicked my living to look like my childhood home. You used thousands of years of hocus pocus to make my vision come true."

"You act like it was awfully hard to do." Loki returned defensively.

"You did this all for me."

"I was simply bored. Also you are unamusing when you are upset; I had to intervene."

"Stop trying to downplay what you've done." Tony snapped, as he wandered further into the room. Everything was oddly perfect; reminiscent of what it was like to live in the Stark mansion.

Wordlessly he walked from corner to corner; observing knick-knacks and mementos that may not have been accurate to reality, but were close enough to cause a warmth to spread through his chest. He never knew Loki would go to such lengths for him, especially since they weren't anything beyond secret fuck buddies. Yet he had completely underestimated what they really were.

He came to a halt beside the mustard yellow armchair Loki was sitting in, and felt something he hadn't felt in a very long time – affection. It wasn't love by any means, but that didn't mean it couldn't happen. In a way, that's all he wanted in that moment; he wanted to love Loki for the thoughtfulness he displayed today.

"I don't know what to say."

"Then don't embarrass yourself, Stark."

"You have a funny way on showing that you care." He grinned, before making himself comfortable in the god's lap. He hooked an arm around Loki's neck and felt that deep-seated affection bloom brighter than before.

Loki abandoned the examination of his nails, although his face remained passive beyond the clenching of his jaw. He was clearly anxious still, despite having no reason to be. And Tony made sure he relaxed by kissing him gently on the lips, which easily got him a response in return.

They kissed slowly, before it grew more heated. Loki licked over Tony's bottom lip, until he opened his mouth and allowed that talented tongue to roll against his own. Several noises of approval bubbled up in Tony's throat until they parted and stared into one another's eyes.

"Thank you; you don't know how much this means to me."

"I can imagine, though." Loki smiled in a carefree way.

"Yo, JARVIS,"

" _Yes, sir,_ "

"I think some music's in order. Let's hear the Monster Mash."

" _Certainly,_ " JARVIS replied and only seconds later the song he requested turned on.

Tony climbed out of Loki's lap and held out his hand and wriggled his fingers. Loki rolled his eyes, but that didn't stop him from standing from his seat anyway. He took Tony's hand, while he pulled something from behind his back with a smirk.

"I've done some research, Stark."

"Always one step ahead of me," Tony chortled as Loki pulled on the plastic Iron Man mask. "You've got me, Reindeer Games; hook, link, and sinker."

Without further ado, he pulled Loki flush against him and swayed to the music. The laughter that came out of Loki was enough to convince Tony that there wasn't anything wrong with what they were doing. Maybe there would be some problems in the future, but for now everything was perfect. And maybe he wouldn't be so nostalgic for his past Halloweens anymore.


End file.
